How do I increase our chances of our rental application being accepted?

Tombo4646

Hi all! Me and my partner have recently put in a rental application for a property that is £1400pcm. Financially we are lucky enough to be really solid. I have a business that pays me £40k - £50k PA and my partner is on about £120k PA. Despite this, I'm worried about some things that could be perceived as negative and looking for solutions of how to get in front with any future applications if we get denied this one. 

1. I have no rental history as I had been living abroad prior to moving back to the UK earlier this year.

2. My partner has no rental history fresher than a year, as we've been travelling since I got back to the UK.

3. We both have a "poor" credit score (on Experian). This is due to neither of us borrowing any money for the past 6 years. We buy everything up front and don't have any phone contracts or anything. Also, due to travelling for the past year, our three months of bank statements have no council tax/utility payments at all. 

Our 3 months of bank statements both look good and shows that we both have a decent chunk in our personal accounts. There's no red flags like transactions from betting companies etc. However, my last 3 months doesn't show a lot coming in as my work is very seasonal (spring and autumn). 

The agent is checking us using Rightmove and my main worry is that we're going to end up in a "computer says no" situation due to poor credit scores. I'm worried whichever agency they use will say we have poor credit scores and they will instantly attribute that to us not paying when the reality is that we don't have anything to pay. 

If we get denied, is that it? Or is it likely we could address their concerns? For instance, if they said we failed their credit check, we could provide a full credit report to demonstrate that we aren't in any trouble?

I'm probably overthinking this, but I've already got it in my head that we're going to be refused the property. I was really surprised at how many questions we were asked, as well as how much of our privacy was compromised during the application. I haven't rented for about 10 years and my last application was much simpler haha.

Any insight or advice would be much appreciated, especially from any landlords : )

Thanks!

caprikid1

Personally I see no reason you would be refused.

If you are really worried offer 6 months upfront ?

silvercar

Being upfront and honest with the letting agent. Do everything you can now eg open credit cards etc to improve your rating. If you have savings offer to pay 3 or even 6 months rent up front. Find a guarantor. 

Flugelhorn

helped a relative find  a couple of places over the last few years - not long out of Uni, no borrowing other than student loan. Was asked to write a bit about themselves and then in one case meet the landlord - Came down to working at a place the agent / landlord recognised and the fact that the agent / landlord liked them when they met them (I think) - all just alchemy really 

Maahes

For my first rental property with no history, I offered six months rent up front on a one year contract and they never bothered with credit checks.

Albermarle

If you really want it, then offer £1450/£1500 pm with 6/12 months upfront.

saajan_12

I'll go into detail below but nothing you mention is particularly alarming. 

Tombo4646 said:

Hi all! Me and my partner have recently put in a rental application for a property that is £1400pcm. Financially we are lucky enough to be really solid. I have a business that pays me £40k - £50k PA and my partner is on about £120k PA.  - okay so 9x rent for your gross income, or 7x just counting partner's if its harder to prove the consistency in self employment. That's well in excess of what LLs usually look for, which would be closer to 3-4x. 
Despite this, I'm worried about some things that could be perceived as negative and looking for solutions of how to get in front with any future applications if we get denied this one. 

1. I have no rental history as I had been living abroad prior to moving back to the UK earlier this year. - not something that's logged, at most its needed for a reference. I'd be happy with a foreign LL providing a letter, but sometimes LLs just don't respond so if everything else was good then I'd just drop this requirement. 

2. My partner has no rental history fresher than a year, as we've been travelling since I got back to the UK. - as above except a 1 year old reference should also be fine. 

3. We both have a "poor" credit score (on Experian). This is due to neither of us borrowing any money for the past 6 years. We buy everything up front and don't have any phone contracts or anything. Also, due to travelling for the past year, our three months of bank statements have no council tax/utility payments at all. - What you see on Experian includes a lot more info only available to lenders and their made up algo, whereas an agent would be searching publicly available info, mainly around defaults etc. 
Even if you did care about the 'poor' score, in the UK that's a lot less affected by credit usage as it is in US for example, and the main thing is not having defaults / lates etc. Have you been registered on the electoral roll, as that can help.

Our 3 months of bank statements both look good and shows that we both have a decent chunk in our personal accounts. There's no red flags like transactions from betting companies etc. However, my last 3 months doesn't show a lot coming in as my work is very seasonal (spring and autumn). 
- The only effect of that is really the proof of income, but your partner's is so high that it likely doesn't matter. 

The agent is checking us using Rightmove and my main worry is that we're going to end up in a "computer says no" situation due to poor credit scores. I'm worried whichever agency they use will say we have poor credit scores and they will instantly attribute that to us not paying when the reality is that we don't have anything to pay. - I've listed the logical interpretion of your situation (IMO). While I can't account for any random logic the agent / their computer uses, hopefully the above assures you that there's only so much info they could even see to drive a negative decision. 

If we get denied, is that it? Or is it likely we could address their concerns? For instance, if they said we failed their credit check, we could provide a full credit report to demonstrate that we aren't in any trouble? - depends on the LL / agent.. some LLs leave it all to their agent and don't know or want to know. Some will look into the detail and try to make the best decision. Some will get so many applicants that its easier to just pick one where computer says yes. 

Re other things you can do.. 
- offer a few months rent upfront
- offer a guarantor
- offer a copy of your statutory credit report (you can download these for £2, it includes more info than you have to provide but would show that you have no debts etc without the alarming red score). 
- try properties where you rent directly from a LL without an agent involved eg on OpenRent.
- be patient and look for alternative properties.. one will have a LL that doesn't follow the computer blindly. 

Tombo4646

caprikid1 said:

Personally I see no reason you would be refused.

If you are really worried offer 6 months upfront ?

Thanks! I hadn't thought of that as an option but it's definitely doable =]

Tombo4646

silvercar said:

Being upfront and honest with the letting agent. Do everything you can now eg open credit cards etc to improve your rating. If you have savings offer to pay 3 or even 6 months rent up front. Find a guarantor. 

After a little research, I realise the important of having available credit when it comes to your credit score, but I think it's more of a long term thing whereby it'll negatively effect my score at first and then improve over time (providing you're sensible). Once I have a tenancy agreement in place, I'll likely look at remedying this. I don't have any plans to borrow money in the future, but I'd rather have a good score and not need it, than a poor one and finding myself needing to borrow. Thanks for the advice! 

Tombo4646

Flugelhorn said:

helped a relative find  a couple of places over the last few years - not long out of Uni, no borrowing other than student loan. Was asked to write a bit about themselves and then in one case meet the landlord - Came down to working at a place the agent / landlord recognised and the fact that the agent / landlord liked them when they met them (I think) - all just alchemy really 

This is generally how I like to work. In an ideal world, I'd rather turn up at the house, meet the landlord and have a chat. It's also important for me that my landlord is decent as well, so it goes both ways. I'm a super easy tenant and in the past, the worst a landlord has had from me is "this is broken, do you mind if I fix it myself?" whereas if there was something serious, I'd like to know the landlord would be decent enough not to leave me without heating for a month haha. 

The house is attached to another one and they were originally purchased as one huge house before being split into two. I have wondered if my landlord is the next door neighbour...

Tombo4646

Maahes said:

For my first rental property with no history, I offered six months rent up front on a one year contract and they never bothered with credit checks.

I hadn't thought about this before but it's good to know it's potentially an option! Thanks =]